In very beginning of my blogging days I was with Namecheap. Due to less available payment modes, I searched for some Indian web host. I got some. NetSpaceIndia was one of them. I was with NSI for more than a year.
As a year passed, I was so tired of services of NetSpaceIndia and Ibeehosting that some extra currency conversion charges was not issue. I got other ways of paying Namecheap, so I moved back.
Recently, I moved all of my domains from NSI to Namecheap. So, here is a unbiased, non-commercial and more importantly personal review of NetSpaceIndia.
● Interface:
UI and control panel are quite good when compared to many Indian hosts. It is detailed and shows services you have. Domain indicators are good but most of the time I found them faulty. Graphics are very low level looking and slow. Hit a button wait for it.
● Referral and Payments:
NetSpaceIndia definitely pays for referrals. Commissions are good and can help you to stock up some money for future. However, referrals links and banners are not much interesting and have basic looks.
Many payment modes are available and mostly provided through CC Avenue (when last used), and it is good for Indians as they can use their debit cards and avoid currency exchange charges.
● Hosting:
My friend used NetSpaceIndia hosting after asking me and I want to say that I felt sorry to suggest. We all know that every host poses some limits in shared hosting, but limits in ‘MBs’ is a joke and not to forget many feature like Sitebuilder, etc. are not available. When I tested some of the hosted sites at NSI with a tool at iwebtool, the load times came around 0.12-0.18 seconds. Even their company website loads in 0.11 seconds. Now, this is real slow.
● Pricing:
It’s a winner and my primary reason to leave NetSpaceIndia. As far as I remember, in the last one year, NSI increased their prices for domains twice saying that ICANN increased the prices and taxes. Surprisingly, I didn’t see any other Indian or offshore hosts increasing anything. Either ICANN has some personal grudge on NSI or NSI is a straight liar. Now, the prices are ridiculous.
Some examples:
| TLD | NetSpaceIndia | Ibeehosting | Namecheap |
| .COM | INR 599 ($11.09) | INR 500 ($9.25) | $10.69 (up to $9 with monthly coupons) |
| .IN | INR 699 ($12.94) | INR 500 ($9.25) | $9.99 (up to $8.98 with monthly discounts) |
| .CC | INR 1400 ($25.90) | INR 1000 ($ 18.50) | $18.99 (much less with coupons) |
Point is why I shall pay more for same thing and better services? Even after currency conversions it actually costs me less at Namecheap.
Linux hared hosting from NSI starts from INR 1700/year (around $32/year) to INR 5500. VPS and Dedicated hosting prices are another joke. These hosts with propaganda of Indian hosts will charge anything. 512 MB VPS costs NR 3000/month ($57). Are you kidding me? Namecheap gives same RAM at $44 with double of everything, and GoDaddy is providing 1 GB RAM VPS at around INR 1300/month for Indians.
Even so, they are advertising that ‘Show us any other Indian host with lower prices’. In this campaign, terms say that discounts are not counted. I ask you all, why not? If a web host like Namecheap, Godaddy, Name, etc. gives discounts every month then why shall I not count it? After all web hosts are earning less, and I am saving money. “My Money”
If you look at other web hosts and their services, everything at NSI is damn costly with nothing in it – not even speed or features.
● DNS Services:
This one is a second winner. I have never seen such bad DNS services except at Ibeehosting. You have to activate it manually, and it is all different game. It caused me a headache. Even after that there is a high confusion between options. Child and Parent Name server terminologies are a total mix-up. Records creation is slow. Assigning DNS to a domain is even much slower.
There is no provision to find existing NS registered for a domain which was transferred or acquired from someone. This feature is not provided by most of the Indian web hosts. So, actually not a point of complaint but still comes under negative if you are saying yourself ‘Best web host in India’.
● Verdict:
Blogging and earning comes at initial cost. Even small margins in prices shall not be overlooked when features are at stake. May be NSI are trying to improve but prices are no place to consider this. When you can get ‘n’ times better services, features and customer support with lower cost then why not? After all, it’s your hard-earned money. As of now, I don’t recommend NetSpaceIndia unless you don’t have a choice.